Letter: Founders would not be upset at how the country has fared

Quite often I read letters and columns where the writer laments how far off track America is compared to the intentions of our Founders. I would suggest that our society is really no worse off today than it was throughout the history of our nation. We simply have the benefit of witnessing life first-hand, while we look back at history in a one-dimensional way.

The Founders of our nation would probably not be surprised at what America is like today. They planned for it, yet folks who project onto the Founders their personal disappointment with the state of our country shortchange them. What they did was an amazing act of humility and foresight.

The U.S. Constitution was wisely crafted, not as a final draft, but as a living, evolving framework for balancing the role of government with individual rights and freedoms. Amendments are the mechanism that allow all generations to modify the document as required by the citizens of our country. The Founders knew they could not predict the future and they did not intend to make the constitution rigid and unyielding.

The U.S. Supreme Court represents another of their great achievements and a gift to future generations. Knowing that the pursuit of happiness would lead to conflict, they created an arbiter to decide on difficult issues in a way that preserved our liberties as they are defined in the Constitution.

I think the Founders would be proud of how our country has embraced and used these two mechanisms to manage our affairs as a country. Not all outcomes are pleasing to everyone, but then the core goal the Founders had their eyes on was the creation of a country built on freedom and equal rights for all. It wasn’t to ensure that everyone got their way 100 percent of the time. I thank them for doing such a great job.